https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?s ... ersion=NIV
This Sunday we recognize 5 young people who graduate from high school. They will be venturing out into a world where God often feels distant. What does this Psalm speak to them...and you?
In OT times the presence of the Lord was located in the Temple. Where is His presence today for Christians? What are the benefits of this different proximity and relationship?
How does His presence foster strength and contentment?
How do you envision these benefits helping our recent graduates...and you?

I once read a quote by whom I can no longer remember: “If you know the stars you’re never alone.” That quote had no theological connotation in its context long ago. Regardless, the stars are God’s creation. Creation is one way God speaks to us. I assure you, when you go out at night and gaze into the heavens and see the myriads of stars it is one quick way to realize the fact of God’s presence around us all the time. No need to travel to the temple!

16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

The presence of the Lord is still located within him temple. The Lord's temple is no longer a specific building, but in us individually and, more so, in the entire body of believers.

Knowing that Christ lives in us drastically changes the value of us as humans. We are not just insignificant specks on this Earth, but God has chosen us specifically as a place to set up his temple.

As I think about this psalm--pausing to gnaw on it now and then throughout the week--I get different thoughts than what Pastor has prompted. Rather than feeling apart from God, I realize that I tend to overlook the distance of the Kingdom of God from my everyday life. What I mean is that I live a good life by earthly standards and am content in many ways. (good and bad) I think I don't spend enough time recognizing that life here is just a pilgrimage and that we're heading, by the grace of God, to a home far greater than what we can imagine. The riches, pleasures and glories of this world are far less then even the humblest job in the Kingdom of our God. To overlook such things is quite foolish of me, really. I'm thankful the Spirit continues to "tap me on the shoulder" through His Word and His church to bring my foolish, wandering mind back to what's important.

The opening verse of Psalm 84 is the most familiar and the most beautiful (my opinion) piece in Johannes Brahms’ Requiem. Unlike other requiems, Brahms’ is sacred but non-liturgical. It does not follow the common requiem form (Catholic Mass for the dead) but is a collection of appropriate verses of Scripture having to do with death and dying. The opening number in the requiem is the Beatitude, Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted My younger brother died in the week before Trinity Sunday so the whole setting was meaningful to me. My wife, Ruth, had taught courses at Bellevue College in some of the great choral literature and Brahms’ Requiem had been among the course offerings. I went to all of her classes so I gained a deep appreciation for the work.

Pastor M. posed the question of God’s presence in our time. I propose that every human endeavor is, in some way, connected with one’s religion. The divine presence is manifest in some subtle ways but is always there. In 2003, after a trip to an ocean beach, I wrote a piece called, Ocean Theophanies. I’d like to share some of my thoughts with you by including an excerpt. It follows:

I am working on some notes that relate modern physics and mathematics to my religion. One of the topics I am writing about is the fine-tuning of the universe. Simply put, the likelihood of the existence of the universe as we see and experience it is incredibly small. There are many constants (numbers) associated with the physical structure of the universe that need to be extremely exact. For example, one of the constants has to be accurate to one part in ten billion, billion, billion, billion or the universe would be nothing but hydrogen and helium, no carbon, no oxygen, no heavy elements, nothing. It is difficult to imagine such a number with our limited perception of size. An analogy might help. Cover the entire North American Continent with dimes all the way up to the moon. (The money to pay the national debt would cover one square mile less than two feet deep with dimes.) Next, pile dimes from here to the moon on a billion other continents the same size as North America. Paint one dime red and mix it into the pile. Blindfold a friend and ask him to pick out one dime. The odds that he will pick the red dime are the same as the chance of certain constants being just right to allow for life on earth.
On my beach walk I thought about the marvelous attention to such detail that the Creator exercised. The verities of life depend neither on hammers and paint brushes nor wrecking balls and bulldozers. The changes in Long Beach were of man’s devising. But the ocean is always there--constant, yet changing, playful or moody, but always there, part of a fine-tuned universe.
My beach walk thoughts turned to the manifestation of God in our world, called theophanies. For Elijah God said that He was not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but in the still small voice (theophanies all). For Moses the theophanies were the burning bush and the pillar of cloud. I thought that surely, the roar of the surf and the gentle lapping of waves in calmer seas were theophanies. A popular song from another day had the lines,Would you take the ocean’s roar
And leave just a sigh?

Both the roar and the sigh are the voice of God, my ocean theophanies.

Lord Almighty,
Blessed is the one who trusts in you (Psalms 84:12)
Meaningful words from the book of Psalms. All those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
I am a Christian who believes in God. I have experienced so many blessings from the Lord Almighty. Through my difficult times, I pray to the Lord to give me the strength to overcome the situation.

Recently, an incident took place at home which had me in tears. I didn't know what to do. All that I could do was to pray to God.

I have a kid who is just 9 months old. Last day when he was sleeping, I was watering the plants. After sometime, I saw smoke coming out of the house with a fire in the kitchen. The room in which my kid was sleeping is adjacent to the kitchen. I cried for life, not knowing what to do. I immediately ran inside to rescue my baby. He was shell shocked. By the time I came out of the house, the house was partly on fire. Later I saw the fire officials arrive here to help me. I don't know who actually informed them. Within half an hour, the fire was doused. It was God's intervention which helped me and my baby. I am thankful to God. I still dunno who contacted the fire personnel. The other day my friend shouted at me for not installing a fire alarm security systems at home.

Now it has become a habit for me to thank God for all His blessings. We often fail in doing that.

Whenever we are blessed, we must have a habit of thanking the lord. But most of them do not do that. All that they need is the blessing, and once they are blessed they never thank God. Inculcate the habit of thanking God.